


let's fall in love for the night (and forget in the morning)

by galaxyjaemin



Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: A little bit of angst, Amnesia, Anterograde Amnesia, BL, BoyxBoy, But it's not violent, Gay, Happy Ending, I wrote this in two days, Jaeno, M/M, i love jaemin, jaemin gets slapped, jisung is emotional support, kpop, mlm, nct - Freeform, nomin, parkour accident
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 11:02:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19130707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxyjaemin/pseuds/galaxyjaemin
Summary: where jaemin gets a taste of what it's like to know everything, yet his counterpart knows nothing





	let's fall in love for the night (and forget in the morning)

**Author's Note:**

> i had been wanting to write this ever since listening to finneas's song, yet it's just based on the title, not the contents of the song. it's more based off my vague recollection of the movie 50 First Dates, which i watched only once when i was in elementary school. i managed to write this in two days, so it's not long nor is it one of my better works. nonetheless, i hope you enjoy <3

ignorance is bliss.

 

at least, that's what people constantly told jaemin. he was always one to want to know every single detail of something, just for the satisfaction that he _knows_ something. and when he met lee jeno, he learned that the hard way.

 

it was an ungodly hour at jaemin's local diner, and he was craving some mashed potatoes. the old waitress greeted jaemin with a kind smile, as he was a regular and she seemed to work 24/7. he sat down on the tall, creaky bar stool and bounced his leg energetically up and down on the foot rest. it squeaked in a continuous pattern along with the frying of the stove. and after jaemin was given his usual glass of milk, that's when he laid his eyes on lee jeno.

 

he was reading a book—"when you reach me", an English book out of all things. he squinted his eyes left to right, analyzing each word carefully. he flipped the pages gently, yet made a loud scrape with every time he did so. a pair of glasses lied next to his dark glass of soda, and jaemin figured out why he was squinting so badly.

 

jaemin slipped out of his chair and walked over to jeno, who was too focused on his book to notice the boy looking over him. jaemin just slid into the seat across from the boy, and stared at him. "ahem," jaemin said after a minute, and the boy looked up at him with doe eyes. "why don't you use your glasses so you don't have to squint so much?"

 

the boy blinked a few times before responding with, "i didn't realize i took them off." he laughed at himself for a second as he guided the round reading glasses onto the bridge of his nose, and met jaemin's warm gaze. his head cocked to the side in a sort of sweet confusion, and he smiled, intrigued. "im jeno," he introduced slowly, yet his smile never left his face.

 

"hey jeno," jaemin grinned, "i'm jaemin."

 

and unknowingly, the art of falling in love was in motion.

 

the two boys had been chatting quite verbosely about different things and what interested them, and it was around 3 am when jeno started complaining of a headache. jaemin walked jeno back to his car and wished him a goodnight, but not before softly pinching his earlobe endearingly. "see you 'round, jaemin," jeno chirped in a peak of interest, then drove off.

 

"stay away from that kid," was only the first of many warnings jaemin heard when he went back inside the diner.

 

sonya, the waitress, was not having it. "that boy you were just talking to? it's not good to get caught up with him. there's a lot you don't know about that boy, and it's better you keep it that way."

 

jaemin pouted defiantly at that. "and why's that? can't a single guy who's ready to mingle get to know him a bit better?"

 

"that's the thing, jaemin," sonya stressed. "you can't always know everything. sometimes it's better to just be hidden in the dark. you'll get hurt, love, and i don't wanna see that."

 

and the next day, jeno slapped jaemin across the face.

 

the whole diner stopped what they were doing and stared at the two boys in the middle of the commotion. jaemin held his red cheek in shock, while jeno clutched the book he just hit jaemin with. "for the _last_ time," jeno stated lowly, "i. don't. know. you." jeno made a 180 and exited the diner. everyone resumed with their meals as if nothing happened. jaemin looked at sonya with teary eyes as she shook her head in disappointment.

 

not even 10 minutes later, jaemin had flung himself into the arms of his friend jisung, both receiving stares from the scene of an 18 year old crying into the chest of a 16 year old. "jaemin, stop fucking crying, you baby," jisung snapped, to which jaemin just wailed something too indistinguishable to understand.

 

"he's pretending like he never met me, sungie! how else am i supposed to react?" jaemin sobbed, getting jisung's shirt sticky.

 

"not like the world is ending over one guy, obviously! get your ass up and explain everything that happened, since last night," jisung instructed. jaemin took a moment to collect himself and told jisung in excruciating detail. “oh, jaemin,” jisung sighed, “you really don’t know who jeno is, do you?” jaemin looked at jisung with furrowed brows, bottom lip quivering slightly.

 

“y’know, for someone who can’t stand to be left out of knowing things, the fact that you don’t know a lot about lee jeno is an anomaly.” jisung shook his head. “jeno has a rare type of short term memory—they call it _anterograde amnesia_. once he goes to sleep and wakes up the next day, he can’t remember a single thing that occured after the accident.”

 

jaemin leaned closer towards jisung, lashes fluttering in curiosity. “amnesia? what’s the accident? what do you mean he can’t remember anything?”

 

“slow down, nana,” jisung complained, and firmly pushed the older boy away. “2 years ago, jeno suffered from damage through one of his temporal lobes after a bad parkour accident. he fell a little less than seven stories, and somehow his daredevil ass survived. the doctors and even his own family was sure he wasn’t gonna make it, but he pulled through. apparently people who fall that far only survive ten percent of the time.

 

“when he was deemed to be in stable condition, they noticed he could only remember things that happened before the accident. it was obvious, since jeno could never recognize the same psychiatrist that would come in at the same time everyday. they even conducted a test—his nurse would play a song, and he’d say, “this kinda goes hard.” he’d say the same thing the next day and the next, as if he’d never heard it before.” jisung looked at jaemin, who was collecting the new information. “that’s why he didn’t recognize you today, nana. he doesn’t _remember_ you.”

 

jaemin exhaled and sat back on the bench with a small bounce, forcing himself to loosen up his tense muscles. a few minutes of silence passed. “i’m gonna talk to him,” jaemin decided.

 

jisung’s eyes widened in fear. “what? jaemin, you—”

 

“i’m gonna befriend him every single day, if it comes to that. i wanna know him, ji,” jaemin insisted.

 

jisung groaned in frustration. “fine. but if you get hurt, at least come crying to me in private, and not in the middle of a damn park.”

 

jaemin laughed and ruffled the top of jisung’s head. “sure thing, park.”

 

♡♡♡

 

“you should’ve warned me, before you groped my earlobe.”

 

it was 10 pm and jaemin was sitting across from the infamous lee jeno, once again. he was wearing thick-rimmed black glasses, this time, like the ones clark kent wears. jaemin loved it.

 

“i swear you looked exactly like someone i had met the other night, and i wanted to apologize,” jaemin told jeno. “that, and i do want to get to know you better.”

 

jeno chuckled handsomely, and jaemin promises he felt his heart melt a bit. “shooting your shot, huh, na jaemin?”

 

jaemin’s eyes sparkled intensely at the way his own name flowed from jeno’s lips, and he wouldn’t hesitate to call this his nirvana. everything about this night felt magical to jaemin—maybe it wasn’t even the night that was magical, maybe it was jeno himself. no, it definitely was jeno, he was sure of it.

 

“of course!” jaemin gushed. “you’re too warm for me to pass on.”

 

jeno cocked an eyebrow up. “warm? you have a special way with words, na.”

 

the flirty banter continued for hours, along with introductions that had already been spoken into the breeze from nights before. eventually jeno had to leave, and jaemin was feeling a dreading sense of déjà vu. the younger boy rested his forearms on the door of jeno’s car, staring at the beauty mark below jeno's right eye.

 

jaemin subconsciously reached out and touched the spot, slightly startling jeno. jeno looked up and stared directly at jaemin, and he stared back, a habit that both of the boys shared. “sorry, you just look…”

 

“... _breathtaking_ ,” jeno finished in a hushed tone. his hand made its way up to jaemin’s and held it delicately.

 

jaemin was so close to jeno’s face he swore he could count every single eyelash adorned on jeno’s eyes. jeno was the one who realized the situation once he felt jaemin’s forehead on his. the older boy took a quick breath and squeezed jaemin’s hand with care. “i’d like to talk to you again, jaemin,” he said as the said boy leaned back.

 

“will you remember me?” jaemin dared to ask.

 

“...whad'you mean? how could i forget someone like you?” jeno asked innocently.

 

jaemin smiled bitterly at the ground, and shook his head. he looked back up at jeno, and softly pinched his earlobe. this time, jeno caved toward his touch. “take this,” jaemin said, and pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket, his name written across it in neat cursive. “in case, you know, you _do_ forget.”

 

jeno chuckled, but took the paper, anyway. “i promise i won’t,” he unknowingly lied.

 

and jeno was gone just as fast as he appeared.

 

♡♡♡

 

the whole reintroducing thing went on for the next 6 months. on several different occasions, jaemin made out with jeno, only for the latter to forget about everything the next morning. the whole ordeal was nothing to jaemin, but the fact that jeno could never go more than a day without forgetting about the younger’s existence was slowly eating him up.

 

eating him up to the point where jaemin got drunk, and went to jeno’s house an emotional wreck, after getting to meet him again in the morning, that time.

 

jeno was met with a tear stained jaemin on his front porch, anger and sadness doing the tango on each word that came out of his mouth.

 

“ _you_ ,” jaemin shoved his index finger into jeno’s chest and backed him up against a wall, “lee jeno, you’re cruel. you know that? no, of course you wouldn’t.”

 

“jaemin, what are you---”

 

“everyday!” jaemin sobbed. “ _every. single_ . _fucking_ . _day_ . i choose to fall in love with you all over again. you, lee jeno. stupid, handsome, can’t remember a single _fucking_ thing, jeno! all i want is to meet you again and for you to remember me! for you to remember how much you love my eyelashes, how much you love the sound of my voice, how much you love the way i taste! i just want you to be able to wake up and remember how much you love na jaemin, dammit…”

 

jaemin sobbed and hiccuped into jeno’s now damp chest, and all jeno could do was hold jaemin tightly in his arms. even though it was unfamiliar to him, he put his lips on top of jaemin’s head and kissed his scalp. he smelled of a milky strawberry shampoo, which soothed jeno’s nerves.

 

“i didn’t know you knew,” jeno whispered, eyes welling with tears.

 

“of course i do, dummy,” jaemin whined, muffled into jeno’s shirt. “i never expected you to know i knew, either.”

 

the two stood together in silence, before jeno came up with an idea. “tell me everything about you, jaemin.”

 

jaemin pulled back and looked at jeno with a skeptical look. “just so you can forget it all the next day? no thanks, this time.”

 

jeno shook his head and licked his lips. “no, no, this time i won’t.”

 

“huh?” jaemin remarked.

 

“i’ll write everything down on sticky notes and put them around my room. when i wake up, i’ll read all of them. that way you won’t have to keep redoing everything with me like you have for—how long have we known each other?”

 

jaemin pouted. “6 months.”

 

jeno winced. “oh god, i’m so sorry.” he gave a chaste kiss on jaemin’s forehead. “i wanna make sure that even if i forget you, i’m making an effort to regain everything all over again. tell me your dreams, your fears, and everything i love about you. how i usually treat you, what your quirks are, and everything that’s happened between us for the past 6 months. i’ll write and put everything around my room, and we can even make a video to go along with it. you down?”

 

jaemin bit his lip and stared at the carpet, stalling even though he had a definite answer. “i’ll _always_ be down,” he whispered tearfully.

 

jeno smiled warmly and kissed jaemin softly, despite him only thinking he knew jaemin since that morning. jaemin melted into the kiss with desperation, hoping to leave it ingrained in jeno’s head, somehow. “the first thing you have to know,” jaemin murmured with his eyes closed, as jeno kissed up and down his neck, “is that i _have_ to be told things in detail. so be prepared to write down a _lot_ of stuff to wake up to, tomorrow.”

 

jeno chuckled against jaemin’s skin. “i’ll be sure to make note of that.” he paused to look right into jaemin’s eyes.

 

“and i promise to fall in love with you everyday, na jaemin.”

 

♡♡♡

 

sunlight filtered into jeno’s room, highlighting the dust particles that were creeping through the open window.

 

his phone was buzzing with a text message, waking him up out of his slumber. he reached for his phone on the bedside table and looked at his reflection through the black screen, noticing a dark mark on his neck. jeno sat up straight in a panic, but was even more shocked to find the walls of his room littered in blue sticky notes.

 

“what the—” he looked back at his bedside table and noticed a single tape that was next to his phone, and picked it up. on it was written “ _let’s fall in love for the night,_ ” in neat cursive. in parenthesis next to it was “ **(and forget in the morning)** ,” in jeno's own handwriting.

 

jeno got out of bed and walked over to his tv and inserted the tape. the screen showed jeno along with another boy, both sitting in the former’s bed. they were laughing and making indistinct chatter.

 

“is it recording?” the boy next to jeno asked, and giggled nervously. jeno watched himself nod at the other boy. the boy cleared his throat, then began.

 

“hey, jeno. i’m jaemin, your boyfriend. are you ready to fall in love, again?”


End file.
